Senior Cassie Frias focuses on the final details of college prep after having committed to a school

Senior Cassie Frias has already decided what school she will attend after high school. Now, she is able to focus on the more enjoyable aspects of preparation while reflecting on her experience with recruitment. 

Frias committed to attending Southwest Minnesota State on a dive scholarship November 2022. She chose SMSU because the academic aspects of the school fit what she was looking for from campus size to intended major. 

Frias also fell in love with their swim and dive program, largely the team’s positive energy; she described how the team members reached out to her and followed her Instagram account. The team’s coach was also a big part of this.

“[Head] Coach Marty [Wahle] is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Frias said. “He will just text me sometimes and be like, ‘hey, how was your day?’ He was super, super nice and helpful during the recruiting process by reaching out, scheduling an official visit [and] planning all the fun stuff. He’s very passionate about growing the swim and dive program because they haven’t had a program since the late 60s and they brought it back. The 2019-2020 school year was the first year that they had had a women’s swim and dive so I get to be a part of history.”

Getting the dive scholarship not only required Frias to do well athletically, but to also navigate the world of college recruiting. Frias describes what this looked like for her.

“I had a dive Instagram [account],” Frias said. “That is how pretty much all coaches found me and they would reach out to me. There were some schools that I reached out to first but SMSU was not the case for that. They reached out to me in mid-May because they saw I had a my dive Instagram and then I also had a recruiting profile.

Though, in addition to diving, Frias understands that staying on top of her academics is important for college too. She describes the weighted classes she is taking to prepare.

“I’m taking AP Statistics for Baker credit so I don’t have to take statistics in college,” Frias said. “Anatomy and Physiology is getting Baker credit even though it transfers as an elective everywhere, which is very sad, but I’m still getting [four credits from it]. Then I get five elective credits from French and that’s just this year. Last year I got my AP Bio credit. Just staying on top of my classwork [is important]. I knew coming into this school year that I wanted to do physical therapy so it was easier to pick what classes I wanted to take that would help me towards that goal.”

Staying organized has also helped Frias to stay on top of planning and classwork. Specifically, Frias uses an agenda to manage her time. 

“I love my agenda,” Frias said. “I fill it out every day and each day it has the four classes I have that day. Then I write what homework there is and if there’s no homework or when I get it done, it’s extremely satisfying. 

Having gone through the college selection process, Frias can now relax and focus on the fun parts of college preparation, like choosing a roommate.

“It’s not necessarily so stressful anymore because I’m committed,” Frias said. “Now that that’s done, it’s just making sure I get every deadline for housing, picking roommates and actually registering with classes.”